Harrow woman succumbs to injuries, driver charged

Joyce Elizabeth Ford was going to the Canadian Tenors concert at Caesars Windsor Saturday night. Her son, Tim, was driving in from Toronto to take her to the show – a perfect start to his Christmas visit with her.

Instead, Tim will be at Harrow United Church Parish Hall, greeting family and friends at a gathering being held in her memory.

The two women were on King Street Dec. 13 crossing McAffee Street about 3:15 p.m. when they were struck by a pickup truck turning at the intersection.

The driver of the truck, Ronald Oliver Walker, 70, of Alva, Fla., has been charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk. Friday, he was issued a summons to appear in court.

Tim remembers being incredulous as his cousin in Indianapolis called him on his cellphone after the accident, informing him of his mother’s injuries.

“Nobody expects such a thing to happen, especially in Harrow.”

Tim said his mom was knocked unconscious by the pickup truck and never regained consciousness. Everyone at the scene thought his aunt would be okay. “Brain injuries manifested themselves once they got her into the hospital,” he said.

“There wasn’t a scratch on them, no broken bones, nothing,” he said.

Tim expressed sorrow for the pickup driver. “That poor man. He didn’t go out of the house that day intending to run someone over,” he said.

“Life is a series of coincidences. Some are just worse than others.”

Joyce, known in town for her beautiful smile, had lived in Harrow her whole life. She worked for 41 years at the Harrow Research Station. Secretary to the director, she retired in 1994.

Tim said, growing up, he was the only kid in school whose mom worked.

She remained “fiercely independent” to the end.

She loved to read, Tim joking that her books would fill a semi-truck.

Joyce was married for 54 years to Charles Wilson Ford, who died in 2008. Tim is their only child.

Harrow being a small town, people still knew Joyce and her sister, Mary, by their maiden name, Hernandez. The two sisters were inseparable, Tim said. “‘There goes the Hernandez sisters,’ people would say because they were always seen together.”

There will be an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. today at Harrow United Church. Cremation and a private family graveside service has taken place.

Joyce Elizabeth Ford is seen in this handout photo with her husband Charles Wilson Ford, who died in 2008.

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